Midland High's Jaxon Hallmark outruns the throw to Lee High first baseman Griffin Quintero and loses his helmet Friday, May 1, 2015 at Christensen Stadium. Midland High beat Lee High 10-2. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram less

Midland High's Jaxon Hallmark outruns the throw to Lee High first baseman Griffin Quintero and loses his helmet Friday, May 1, 2015 at Christensen Stadium. Midland High beat Lee High 10-2. James ... more

Photo: James Durbin

Photo: James Durbin

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Midland High's Jaxon Hallmark outruns the throw to Lee High first baseman Griffin Quintero and loses his helmet Friday, May 1, 2015 at Christensen Stadium. Midland High beat Lee High 10-2. James Durbin/Reporter-Telegram less

Midland High's Jaxon Hallmark outruns the throw to Lee High first baseman Griffin Quintero and loses his helmet Friday, May 1, 2015 at Christensen Stadium. Midland High beat Lee High 10-2. James ... more

Midland High designated hitter Browning Houser, hitting second in the Bulldogs order, was expecting to bunt in his third at-bat of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning.

But he quickly changed his mind and got aggressive and drove in Ethan Barker with an RBI double that was smoked to the left center gap.

The Bulldogs’ bats came alive in a 16-hit outburst and a 10-2 win against arch rival Lee that sent MHS to the playoffs as the third seed out of District 3-6A, Friday night at Christensen Stadium.

MHS will play Arlington Lamar in a best-of-three bi-district round series next Friday and Saturday at McMurry University with the times still to be determined.

With the loss, Lee (11-12-1, 3-7 in District 3-6A) is eliminated from playoff contention.

“Honestly I was up there to bunt,” Houser, who finished the game 3-for-4 with two RBI, said. “But when he (Barker) hit a double there was no reason to bunt. Everything was locked in, everybody played good defense. It was everybody, everybody was killing the ball.”

MHS coach Barry Russell said he was glad to see his offense get going after a couple of weeks of being lukewarm. But he gave some credit to Lee.

“They bring out the best in us,” Russell said. “We swing the bats well against them. But we were very fortunate to get some key hits today, very fortunate.”

Overall, the one, two and three-hole hitters in the Bulldogs’ order went a combined 9-for-12 with four RBI and six runs in the game

Brady Bolger started the game for the Bulldogs (19-7, 5-5 in District 3-6A) and ended up pitching a complete game, allowing two runs on seven hits, while striking out one and walking one.

The Bulldogs took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Houser’s RBI double and then an RBI single by Sam Bertelson that scored Houser.

The Rebels responded in the top of the third with a two-RBI double by Brady Roper, but Lee never really threatened for the rest of the game.

Then in the bottom of the fifth inning, with MHS leading, 6-2, the Bulldogs blew open the game.

Six consecutive batters collected base hits for MHS, which ended up scoring four more runs in the frame. But as well as the Bulldogs were hitting, it was also four costly Lee errors that contributed to the final result.

“I’m disappointed in how we handed it,” Roper said. “We did not play to our capabilities this year.”

Hunter Coleman led the Rebels going 3-for-4 in the game. Eight of the nine starting MHS players recorded at least one hit in the game.